"You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.”
-Marian Wright Edelman

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Journal of Christian Legal Thought Issue on Adoption: Hopes for a Mature Dialogue

The Journal of Christian Legal Thought, a
publication of the national Christian Legal Society and Regent University
School of Law, allowed me to help put together an issue on adoption. Thanks to Mike Schutt, the editor, for his
courage in publishing what may be seen as a controversial issue, and for his
trust in giving me flexibility in recruiting a diverse group of authors.

(The link above first takes you to the abstracts of
the articles as viewed in the print version; to read the full article click the
link at the end of the abstract---for those with a longer version.)

The issue contains three articles on the theological
controversy (myself, with responses by Jedd Medefind, head of the Christian
Alliance for Orphans, and Dan Cruver, editor/author of Reclaiming Adoption);
two adult adoptee voices (Mark Diebel and JaeRan Kim), a personal story by a
first mother who lost her child recently and writes here under the pseudonym of
Clara Daniels; and an historical article by E. Wayne Carp, a leading historian
of adoption, on Jean Patton, a Christian, adoptee, and early critic of the
closed records system.

One message I would hope this issue sends to the
Christian world is that adoption is
controversial, and for good reasons.
The Christian adoption movement has naively recapitulated the rhetoric
of orphan babies and children being rescued by unrelated Christian adoptive
parents, putting a false veneer of Biblical rhetoric over it. (I say false veneer because the Bible itself
does not tell any such story.) Instead,
any fair narrative about adoption must begin with the conception and birth of a
child to a particular mother, father, family, and community; once this true
beginning is acknowledged, it becomes clear enough why adoption is
controversial. Immediately the
questions emerge: was a separation
between the child and her family really necessary? What is the relationship of the adoptee to
their original family (not just parents, but also siblings, extended family, grandparents,
etc.) ? What is the relationship of the
original family to the adoptive family?

Once a legitimate controversy is acknowledged, what
is the way forward?

The answer is:
Dialogue, dialogue, and more dialogue.

From that perspective, I hope this issue of the
Journal of Christian Legal Thought furthers this necessary process of dialogue.
But it is only a beginning. I hope that
we can encounter one another with respect as fellow human beings made in the
image of God---and for those of you who share my Christian faith, as brothers
and sisters in Christ.

I know some of you may find my rhetoric strong at
times. But please consider: every day of my life I live, within my own
family, the long term impact of deeply exploitative and sinful practices
conducted in the name of adoption.
Nearly every day of my life I encounter those same impacts in the lives
of many others, through personal communications, reviewing new reports of
abusive practices, and continued research.
Then, when I enter the rhetorical world of the Christian adoption
movement I encounter what appear to me to be a fantasy-land of lies and
misleading inducements which continue to harm many. I recognize that most involved are
well-intentioned and worthy of respect---but the actions and rhetoric remain
deeply hurtful. So it my role to seek to
burst the bubble of the adoption fantasy.

So do not confuse strong words with disrespect.

I am quite good at listening---indeed, I’ve been
listening to pro-adoption rhetoric for longer than the current Christian
adoption movement has existed. Indeed, I
fell for that rhetoric at one time in my life, and so I understand it deeply. And if you have something to say as well
which I have not heard before, I am eager to hear that as well.

Do not confuse apparent “negativity” with a
lack of positive prescriptions. I have
plenty to say about what should and could be done to fix the problems. And indeed in my articles I’ve made very
specific proposals. But I know that my
solutions will not be palatable until and unless the scope of the problem is
acknowledged.

This is great, thanks for writing as you do and for letting everyone know where this information can be found.

"Indeed, I fell for that rhetoric at one time in my life, and so I understand it deeply."

This is such an important statement. Many adoptive parents have a difficult time letting got of this rhetoric, even to the point of denying reality when it smacks them in the face. For this reason, I applaud your willingness to work with members of the Christian adoption movement to remind them that their message is flawed.

Thank you very much for this article. I read it in it's entirety for the first time a few days ago and have been thinking of it ever since. I am a "new" Christian and an adoptee and struggled very much with the Christian Adoption Movement. I now feel that I can be an Adoptee Rights Advocate AND a Christian adoptee.

I never understood when people claimed that Moses was adopted therefore adoption was good. Your article explained if fully and I will use your points when talking to others.

I'm glad to see this but I fear that the people who need it most won't read it. My step-daughter's wanna-be adopters firmly believe that God has told them to adopt the world's orphans and they seem to forget that means a child without BOTH parents.

I'm not sure what's going on with the links. The first time I clicked on the first link it didn't work; the link at the end of the blog post (to the same place), DID work, however. I went back and clicked on the first link again and this time it DID work. I suspect there is a problem with the zmag site itself and that it is simply inconsistent. I'd try it several times at different times and hopefully it will work on one of your tries. Sorry.

FWIW, the long version of the article by David Smolin is also available at his bepress site: http://works.bepress.com/david_smolin/

Hello everyone, thank you for telling of your stories about the two young daughters who were stolen. I am very glad to know there are people in the world like you who know how wrong this is. I am an Australian adoptee, taken by threats and deceit in 1962 from my 35 year old widowed mother. I run a support and lobby group for abused and mistreated adoptees here. I was taken from my mother just because she was poor...she already had 4 boys in her care, but they were healthy and well. They the government wanted me a new born, not older children cause they are harder to adopt. I did not go to the home my mother was promised. I was abused from the day I entered their door. I was forced to work in charcoal pits from the age of five, beaten, kicked, suffocated and even set alight for fun, I was never seen by a doctor for my injuries and if they did they lied. I found out at 20 years old that I have a fracture in my spine in the T5, I was told I had to be in a care accident or bashed all i could say to the doctor at the time was I've not been in a car accident. At present I am actively lobbying the Australian government to have to truth exposed and adoptees like my self get an apology, services for free and compensation. So far the government is willing to apologize with restriction to the wordings, they are worried about getting their butts sued. There are many adoptees in Australia who were stolen between the years 1950's to 1980's they estimate about 200,000 of us..and a recent senate inquiry and Family study has found an alarming number of us have suffered abuse. Any body wanting to know more or chat with me here is my email address kerris.1@bigpond.com All I want to say is I am very impressed with the adoptive parents who think more about the need of the child than themselves as these people are very rare indeed. Those little girls will love you so much more for wanting to out things right. God Bless you both.

I knew there had to be someone in the Christian community who understood the unbiblical behavior at work in the area of relinquishment. I can hardly believe I have found it in your writing! Thank you! Be encouraged that you are not alone. You are a pioneer. God bless you.

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Contributing Fleas

Why These Fleas Bite

Desiree: In 1998 my husband David and I adopted a sibling group of two older girls from India.

Within six weeks of their arrival, our new daughters, who were severely emotionally traumatized, told us they had been stolen from their birthfamily.

For six long and difficult years, our agency, though asked to do so repeatedly, failed to investigate our daughters allegations.

Finally, on our own with the help of an Indian activist for the poor, we found our daughters' birthfamily and confirmed their disturbing story.

Despite all this there has yet to be so much as an apology from our agency, and certainly no justice. Not for our daughters. Not for our daughters' first parents. Not for ourselves.

It seems that NO ONE CARES about this crime.

Our US agency--which has not disputed the facts of the case--says that it bears no legal responsibility even if, like we say, they helped place stolen children in our home.

Our pleas to both the Indian and US governments have fallen on what appears to be deaf ears, and therefore, we assume, uncaring ears. The state office which licenses our agency has a phone machine for complaints; apparently they do not return phone calls--at least ours was never returned.

Meanwhile, the Indian orphanage director has been jailed three times on child trafficking related charges. He is currently trying to be relicensed yet again.

We have been left to ask the questions:

1) How could this have happened? Was our case simply a rare happenstance or could there be specific flaws--specific or systemic--in the system that have allowed/caused it to happen?

2) Why is it that no one cares about this kind of crime?

This blog represents some of the answers we've found to these questions. It also is shares the ongoing answers as we continue to learn.

Flea bites are simply individual incidents of exposing the reality of international adoption practices--one example, one practice, one analysis, one real-life experience, one proposed remedy, and one "big picture" at a time.

If our insignificant flea bites can save other families the extreme pain that our daughters, our daughters' first family, and our own family have endured, these flea bites will not be in vain.

Usha: When I adopted from India not that many years ago, I was ignorant about the adoption landscape.

I believed the adoption myth that adoption agencies are basically trustworthy and that with all the hoops adopters must jump through, there are sufficient checks and balances to ensure that adoptions are ethical.

After adopting, I began participating in the adoption community.

My eyes were opened by the racist attitudes and beliefs I observed in fellow adopters from India. I couldn't believe the dim view I saw many take of my children's country of birth, my own country of origin.

Where were the checks to ensure that children were adopted into non-racist families? Later, my eyes opened wider when I learned about scndal after scandal with the recurrent themes of: getting children "out," agencies willing to look the other way, laws that are good on paper, but that are not enforced and individuals advocating for reform simplistically painted as evil and "anti-adoption."

First, I thought adoption corruption was primarily specific to India. It didn't take long, however, to become aware of how pervasive adoption corruption is.

With that knowledge came a sense of obligation that as a participant in the system: no matter how unwitting, I owe it to my children to advocate for reform

“Justice will not come to Athens until those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are injured”

--Thucydides, Ancient Greek historians and author, 460-404bc

“The more I learn, the more race, culture, and class stand out as the key issues behind ethical problems in adoption, domestically and internationally—the same issues are at play in both"”

--Tesi Kohlenberg, Adoptive Parent

Adult Adoptee Voices

"We are not commodities. We are children that were torn away from our countries, our parents, and our culture. We are not the newest fad. We are women and men who forever have a hole that cannot be filled. We have voices, and we use them to express our outrage, our bitterness, our anger, and also our joy,our love,and our lives. To learn from us is to listen to what is, sometimes,underneath."

"Sending" Country Parent and Community Voices

"We are not animals to be bought and sold,"

--Ana Escobar, a Guatemalan mother whose baby was stolen from her and who suspected her child was funneled into the International Adoption system. Ana diligently searched for her child through pending adoption paperwork until she found her--with a false identity and fake DNA tests--waiting to be processed for adoption by a US family. After a new DNA test confirmed Ana was her child's mother, the two were reunited.